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Aloha! Sorry for the long hiatus - I can't believe it has been a month already. I'm in Ljubljana, Slovenia right now and it's pretty great. Yesterday was my birthday and that was fun too -- I bought a used mountain bike for 60 Euro and even did heavy squats and deadlifts at Crossfit ljubljana.

I'll spare details for now and just give you a link to my personal site which affords links to my recent travels and photography.

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I am more primal than I have ever been - I spend over an hour walking each day - my PR in the past month was 3 hours walking around prague and again in Copenhagen. I don't have access to a refrigerator here in Slovenia but the eggs keep well outside of them and so do my sardines, carrots, bananas and pumpkin seeds. All I need now are brazil nuts and maybe some canned oysters...

Ljubljana is super spread out and navigating to anywhere on bike is sort of hard until I learn the area better -- every street corner looks the same! Today I went and worked out with a buddy of mine at a gym we biked 20 minutes to. He's 25 so he is a great, energetic motivator who is also pushing for another set and a couple more reps. I have high expectations of being in really amazing shape by the end of the year! I lost a few lbs in scandanavia -- down to about 193 last time I checked. Now that I'm in charge of my diet (unlike in prague where I ate out everywhere) I expect full on beast mode!

-- Caveman you will be happy to hear I found a Tinderella in Prague -- a woman from Jakarta the day before I left. Flag planted.

Today did squats and deadlifts even though they were still feeling week from Tuesday's lifts. I had poor sleep owing to some 90% dark chocolate I ate at 10 pm (that kept me up until about 2) and these workouts outside who made a ton of lawnmower-like noise from 6 am on. Did a yohimbine and could still function - probably going to crash later this evening.

After exercise went to the store, downed a liter of kefir and bought three cartons of eggs (they come in 10 instead of 12 here and taste much better the yolk is dark dark orange almost red). Also got some brazil nuts. Kind of happy that mark's blog post from yesterday (10 primal foods that you don't eat enough of) -- actually highlights most of the things I eat a lot of. I still fail on liver, offal though ;[ came back home and ate 5 eggs. What I've been doing is doing 3 yolks + 2 entire eggs -- it gives an amazing flavor without any of that egg-white filler (althought I guess I should probably be eating more egg whites for the protein -- which is hard to get enough of without a refrigerator). In danger of consuming too much fruit since it is convenient and keeps well outside of refrigeration. WIll try to work more veg in. Bought some yelloe bell peppers today which are much cheaper than stateside.

Lots of cute girls on this trip much younger than me - in their early twenties. They are pretty flirty but for some reason I have almost zero interest in pursuing them. Since I will be travelling alongside of them for the next year I just want to avoid any sort of drama!

Only thing I haven't figured out yet in SLovenia is a good place to do yoga. I got super hooked on Iyengar yoga when I was in prague - i describe it as OCD yoga where they are super anal about your position and how you hold them. Very interactive instructors -- I learned a ton and even began the process of correcting my shoulder positions which has already paid off immensely for the comfort of my thoracic spine.

ad astra per aspera

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Had a pleasant weekend in Ljubjljana - I think I'm finally getting into flow here. At liver and gorgonzola last night (wonderful) and just made myself a tea-like drink with cacao powder and water, stirred patiently with my finger. More bitter than the stuff I was eating in the states but I think that's a great sign that it's full of nutrients and hasn't been dutch processed. Made my egg yolk omlete for breakfast after biking 20 minutes to an exercise facility to do upper body today. Tomorrow is squats at the crossfit gym here.

Went to a water park (called atlantis) here on Saturday afternoon and then watched an outdoor showing of Mad Max in an amphitheater in this castle in the center of town - very cool venue -- they show movies every night there during the month of July.

So my diet is pretty good... but the whole alcohol thing is still throwing me off. Drinking in the social circle is constant and pretty hard to avoid. I'm not much of a drinker because it makes me sleepy and feel kind of gross. But while walking around and exploring water is inaccessible and frankly when I stop at a street cafe and am thirsty a beer tastes better and is more refreshing. The good news is that my activity level pretty much cancels out the calories -- I just kind of dislike the way alcohol affects my metabolism and the way I feel afterwards. I try to consume on an empty stomach so not to feel bloated and so I can feel a sort of effect from it but it's hard to do. I'd like to get super lean for Dubrovnik since I'll be on the beach a lot there, next month - have about two and a half weeks before I head there.

I'm struggling to find focus for work - so many distractions socially and as a traveler. Will be working from my apartment/dorm this week to try and regain it instead of the shared workspace.

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Hey Heregoesnothing - I think you are envious, not jealous! For work, I'm a voodoo sorcerer - VoodooSorcerer.com ; the program that's facilitating my international travel this year is http://www.remoteyear.com ; I don't work for them though - they just organize a place for me to live and work and some extracurriculars and 70 other like-minded compatriots who love to travel and are working remotely as well. The group represents about 15 countries -- I'm older than a lot of the guys on it though.

Today was squats and deadlifts even though my sleep was garbage -- the guy I live by had a party until 3 am and I kept getting woken up by their drinking and fun. Humbug! Also the construction work outside at 6 didn't help. But I did get my ass out of bed early and biked 20 mins to the 7:30 am crossfit class (I just lifted). Almost got hit by a car on the way (had to do a power slide on my 50 euro mountain bike after a car turned around a blind corner). No more catastrophic injuries for TFC!!!!

Ate 8 egg yolks with the whites of about 3 eggs, a yellow pepper, an orange, a liter of kefir (3.5 milk fat%), some brazil nuts and pumpkin seeds and then chased it with my new favorite invention -- cacao and water, mixed together with my finger. Terrific replacement for coffee with easy preparation -- just add cacao powder to water and stir together with your finger. The stimulant within the cacao is similar to caffeine -- but also different. It is very bitter but you can sweeten with protein powder if you have a blender. Give it a shot post work out for a very nutritious pick me up that will feed your chocolate lust!

Speaking of lust... Yeah I need to have sex again. The call of the wild

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Found a swimming pool half a mile away from where I sleep - today was my rest day so went and did casual laps for an hour (didn't bring sunscreen and didn't want to get burned) -- so awesome getting up in the morning and getting some fasted swimming in!

Loving my nutrition now. Feel very proud of the nutrients I am pounding in my #nofridgelife

I think If I want to build more muscle I need to increase my calorie intake - I just feel so bloated when I eat more throughout the day and then feel like a flabby flab ass. Espcially in the summer when it's hot outside -- strange because in the winter I go into hibernation mode and have no problem downing a pizza.

I'm not moving as much these days since I'm working from where I sleep (in a private office) but everything else is good and I'm productive with work. two weeks left until move to Dubrovnik and start the whole cycle of building a routine again!

I'll plan something more epic for 50k (if we ever hit that milestone).

Squats today after a couple of days of good sleep - did some overhead squats too to see how they felt -- pretty good after not doing them for about 4 months?. Did a few at 155#- not as solid as I would want. I'll try again next week. So hard juggling all of the lifts!
So this crossfit gym I lifted at today - god I have no desire to be doing 20 minute wods anymore. Or even 10 minute! Ha ha - no longer have that innate drive or anxiety that I need to be doing them. I guess part of that is being 35 years old and another part of it is exerting the energy and focus that I used to have reserved for it on work and social stuff as well as other areas of self improvement.

I wanted to recommend this book I recently finished, "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. Good stuff for any young man or father out there. Stoic zen that got me thinking a lot about the way that I interface work with others. Recommended.

I think once I get to Croatia the access to weights will be scarce. Instead I might be substituting morning, fasted ocean swims -- which really isn't such a bad substitute! I can probably make a ton of progress with just push ups and sit ups - but bro gonna want a pull up bar. I guess you could say my immediate goal for the next couple of weeks is centered around LGN.

Unsure if I've related the story of this other gym I've been going for my upper body days (non squat days) -- it's a globo gym with machines and a couple of free weights - a place I can do curls without being laughed at by my crossfit homies. Well there is this personal trainer there who hates me. He works out at the same time I do and gives me really crusty looks whenever I turn around and see him. I always smile and wave and he acts all weird.

Anyway at gyms in europe it's seemingly rare to find a water fountain - most places make you drink out of the bathroom faucet (strange that water is generally harder to find in shared spaces and in the public than in the states -- you'd think it's scarce). But at this place they have a water cooler, but no cups for it. The cup dispenser is always empty. So two days ago I just unscrew the cup dispenser, turn it upside down, and use it as a cup -- perfect. A while later mr glaring personal trainer comes over and starts upbraiding me in Slovenian -- and then in English -- "That is not what this is for-- CAN I GET YOU A CUP??" yes please! He comes back with a stack of little plastic cups designed for the cup dispenser, hands me one and instead of filling the cup dispenser, returns them back to the storage closet. Thank you! I said laughing at myself and generally letting him feel appreciated for helping me through my embarrassing incompetence. He just kept giving me mean glares. Bro just hates that I do more pull ups at his gym than he does and upscaled the water cup dispenser.

In other news I see why people have girlfriends. When you want sex and can't get any it kind of... sucks!

I'm looking pretty good naked and could probably be better if eating enough wasn't such a pain in the butt (really hard to control when and what I eat in south america -- I don't have a kitchen this month and dinner places don't open until 8pm).

Hope you guys are kicking butt would love to hear what you are getting into lately.